NTSB May Drop BlackBerrys for iPhones, Citing Reliability

Research In Motion Ltd. may be losing another U.S. government customer, but this time the reason isn’t fickle employees who prefer to carry around an iPhone.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it’s looking to switch from RIM’s BlackBerrys to Apple Inc.’s iPhones because BlackBerrys “have been failing both at inopportune times and at an unacceptable rate,” according to a notice the agency posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, which solicits bids for federal government work.

“The NTSB requires effective, reliable and stable communication capabilities to carry out its primary investigative mission and to ensure employee safety in remote locations,” the posting said. The NTSB also noted that iPhones would better link with the agency’s already-deployed iPad tablets. An NTSB representative declined to comment further.

Faced with competition from the iPhone and a bevy of other smartphone competitors, RIM is planning to launch a new phone, run off a new operating system, early next year. Despite its declining share of the smartphone market, RIM has said government and corporate clients have continued to prize the reliability and security of its devices and network.

“Government organizations globally have trusted the reliability and security of BlackBerry for over a decade. They can continue to do so,” RIM said in a statement.

“We have one million government customers in North America alone who depend on BlackBerry, and more than 400,000 government customers worldwide upgraded their devices in the past year,” RIM said.

The NTSB is the latest in a series of big corporate and government clients to turn elsewhere for their smart phone needs. Last month, the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency said it would start supplying iPhones to its employees instead of BlackBerrys. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made a similar announcement.

Separately, RIM confirmed late Tuesday its e-commerce website, ShopBlackBerry.com, was offline. The site is RIM’s main online retail portal, though RIM doesn’t rely on it for much of its sales. It offers online customers a number of BlackBerry models and BlackBerry-branded accessories.

“Due to circumstances beyond our control, ShopBlackBerry.com is temporarily unavailable,” RIM said in a statement. “We apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause.” RIM didn’t elaborate on why the site was down, but said it is “working to restore functionality” on the site.